Grenadian Cory Zufelt expands Digital Growth vision at IATF2025

by Curlan Campbell

• Removal of visa barriers between Grenada and parts of Africa creating new opportunities for trade and expansion
• Beyond digital marketing and AI, Zufelt sees wider opportunities for Grenadian and Caribbean companies

Grenadian technology and marketing entrepreneur Cory Zufelt, Co-Founder and Chairman of Digital Growth Inc., said the removal of visa barriers between Grenada and parts of Africa is creating new opportunities for trade and expansion. Zufelt is currently in Algeria attending the 4th Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2025), where he is building partnerships across the continent.

The visa waiver agreement, which will exempt citizens of Grenada and Ghana from visas from April 2025, has been welcomed by Zufelt as a turning point. “Because some of the countries now have visa-free entry, we can go to Ghana visa-free. I mean, things are starting to open up and for me, it’s just to continue to accelerate it, so that it’s easy and frictionless for us to travel and go into those markets and start setting up businesses,” he said.

Zufelt, the creator of I’m Local Grenada, a tourism marketing platform, is now driving new ventures in digital marketing and AI through Digital Growth, along with his co-founder and CEO, Cameron Philbert. “We are in digital marketing and AI solutions. Those are the top 2 industries I would say we’re most known for at this moment,” he said.

The Grenadian entrepreneur has already started setting up operations in Nigeria. “Coming off the ACTIF 2025 event in Grenada, we made a lot of connections with different people in Africa and because we’re in the digital marketing and AI space. We’re able to export these services — we’re currently exporting services regionally and into North America. However, from that event, we were able to make a number of connections. So we are setting up joint ventures in Nigeria right now to start exporting from Grenada our AI solutions into Nigeria,” he explained. “Currently, we are in the negotiation stage with different potential partners in Nigeria, so I’m unable to share with you who we are speaking to specifically right now.” He is also exploring other regions. “I have made contact with people in Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe, just to name a few.”

Zufelt welcomed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ role in opening doors to African markets. “I think the government’s doing a good job in terms of unblocking those barriers to entry. And so if they can continue that into a number of other countries within Africa, I think that would be a good thing. It makes it easier for us to travel and do business in those areas.”

Regarding the solutions his company is exporting, Zufelt believes that his services can meet the needs of businesses on the continent. Currently, we are focused on our AI video agents and AI chat agents. AI helps to remove the language barriers and also helps companies with customer support 24/7 through their website, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram. All are completely integrated and stored in a centralised system. Making it much easier to manage, which many African businesses have a challenge with.”

Zufelt’s main focus is on establishing partnerships as the primary entry point into the African market. “We are focused on building our brand in these markets through our joint venture partnerships. However, in the future we will establish a centralised office that would support our partners across the African continent.”

Language barriers remain a challenge in countries such as Algeria and Benin, but Zufelt is using technology to bridge the gap. “Yes, AI has been very helpful. I currently have a mobile application with an AI earpiece that translates any language in real time. So I can have conversations with anyone on the spot,” he said.

Reflecting on Grenada’s diplomatic initiatives, Zufelt credited the government with opening his perspective. “Yes, by hosting ACTIF 2025 and improving the government relations, it has opened my eyes as an entrepreneur. We were not considering Africa as a potential market previously. I think they can work towards a collaborative platform that would make it easier for us to register business entities in different African countries online.”

He also noted the role of government participation in IATF. “Just from an awareness standpoint. Without that, we would not be thinking about Africa as a market today. However, we took it upon ourselves as a private company to invest in coming over here as we share the bigger picture and the long-term vision of the Government. We want to be at the forefront of that shift as a private company.”

For Zufelt, the fair has already delivered insights. “Just the sheer size of the market. There are roughly 40 million MSMEs in Nigeria alone. So we just need 0.01% of that market to be extremely successful.”

Beyond digital marketing and AI, Zufelt sees wider opportunities for Grenadian and Caribbean companies. “From an agroprocessing standpoint, I think that is an area that I’ve noticed that there’s quite a bit of here, a lot of people in the agriculture sector. So anybody who’s developing local products that are ready for export, I think there are opportunities specifically in that sector.”

He also noted Africa’s growing industrial base. “It seems like energy is a big deal over there as well. So they’re producing a lot of energy. So I think that’s something that you know could be tapped into. But yeah, you know, I still need to explore a little bit more to really see the opportunities, especially from Africa to Grenada as well, and seeing what opportunities can be exported from Africa and imported into Grenada also.”

For now, Zufelt is focused on using IATF2025 to strengthen ties. “…making new connections, networking and looking for more joint venture partnerships for our companies in Grenada so that our brand can start to expand in those other markets,” he said.